The purpose of this descriptive correlational quantitative study was to examine contributing factors of students and teachers affecting teacher self-efficacy and students' reading achievement in rural Oklahoma elementary schools in grades first through fifth. The contributing factors of students being analyzed included (a) poverty and (b) race or…

Interprofessional education (IPE) aims to introduce students to the importance of team-based decision making. This article presents evaluation data from an IPE poverty simulation event. The goals of the project were to increase students' understanding of the barriers faced by families in poverty, and to increase students' confidence when working…

The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges for educators who teach students with disabilities (SWD). Research on the experiences of SWD during the pandemic is limited, but what is known suggests that SWD access to services and supports declined during the pandemic and that steeper learning losses are likely. Pandemic interruptions may be…

Transformative experiences can happen at unexpected times, in unexpected ways. This paper tells the story of how a gift of a goat can lead to the transformation of a life. Many organisations globally are engaged in a struggle to overcome poverty and injustice by providing livestock as a means for transformation. The animals in themselves are not…

Given global threats to the continued functioning of ecosystem services that sustain us all, educators would be wise to embrace the task of redefining our individual and collective orientations to the natural world. Since the inception of the modern environmental education movement in the 1970's, outdoor education at residential camps has…

The purpose of this multi-case study was to discover the causes of low self-efficacy for math for a group of historically low-performing 7th grade students at a high-poverty urban middle school based upon Bandura's (1986) Social Cognitive Theory, specifically the concept of self-efficacy. Qualitative methods were used to collect data, including…

Candidates enter teacher education programs with established beliefs about diversity and urban education. These belief systems impact decisions that teacher candidates make both now and in the future. Providing opportunities for candidates to spend quality time in an urban Professional Development School (PDS) setting with the support and guidance…

Success in reading is often a predictor of broader school success, and children who finish elementary school with weak reading skills are at very high risk for dropping out of high school. Increasingly, early literacy programs are incorporating digital applications to enhance literacy teaching and learning. This evaluation of five teachers in…

As budgets for education in the United States shrink, educational organizations have sought outside grants and funding for their schools. Many state and national organizations have provided funding opportunities specifically to ensure that the arts remain in the schools. Teaching artists are one resource being employed by schools not only to teach…

Background: Poverty is a pervasive condition linked to a myriad of health conditions and severe health outcomes. Public health professionals are at the forefront of addressing poverty-related issues and require education that enhances their understanding and cultural competence. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to evaluate the impacts of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between academic self-efficacy, dispositional optimism/pessimism, and preferences regarding the use of text materials and in-class activities of college students at a university that serves one of the highest-poverty regions in the United States. A sample of 105 students was surveyed.…

Sexuality education forms part of the national school curricula of most sub-Saharan African countries, yet risk-related sexual behaviour among young people continues to fuel the HIV pandemic in this part of the world. One of the arguments put forward to explain why sexuality education seems to have had little impact on sexual risk-taking is that…

The intent of this study was to explore the perceptions of Black middle and upper class preservice teachers as they relate to teaching and learning in high poverty urban schools. Participants included 11 senior early childhood education preservice teachers at a historically Black college in the southeast region of the United States. The study was…

This study tested how well Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action predicted the attitudes and morale of urban teachers in high poverty schools under the pressures of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB forced local administrators to target schools that had not made adequately yearly progress (AYP) for two or more consecutive years.…

After years of applying more pressure on schools to raise achievement levels for all students, particularly those who underperform their mainstream peers, the achievement gap today remains virtually unchanged. But the reality is that there's proof that, under the right conditions, all students can achieve at high levels. Instead of "quick-fix…